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Bill Bikes My bicycling expeditions and jaunts |
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Tioga Pass, part 2, June 2019
Across Yosemite: A Photographic Log
30 June, 43 miles
Back to Tioga Pass, part 1I pedaled for more than two hours before I encountered eastbound traffic, and almost three hours before westbound traffic caught up with me. At that point I quickly got out of the way. One of the first westbound vehicles in the long line of fast-moving traffic on the narrow road was my white Forester, driven by my ace support crew. She honked and waved as she rolled past my comfortable granite refuge. I was surprised to see she had two passengers. Later I learned she had stopped where the road crossed the Pacific Crest Trail in order to pick up a pair of hitchhikers. They were two PCT through hikers heading down to Yosemite Valley for a couple of days.
Knowing the gates had opened at 10:00 and would close at 11:00, I anticipated that within approximately an hour the traffic would be gone and I'd have the road to myself again. Not wanting to joust with cars and RVs, I ate lunch, snapped some photos, and napped in the sun. It was a good plan. A ranger later mentioned that on Saturday a bicyclist had been hospitalized after being clipped by an Airstream trailer that caught up with him during the one-hour period of motorized traffic.
By the time I mounted up and resumed pedaling, all the vehicles were gone except for a few stragglers. Soon the traffic disappeared entirely. I saw a few more bicyclists, but that was it save for a couple of Rangers peacefully patrolling the road in pickups.
It was very hospitable of the National Park Service to provide me with such a spectacular private bike path across the Sierra today. Tomorrow (Monday, 1 July) the road opens for business all day long all summer long as usual.
Time for luncheon beside Tioga Road while long lines of eastbound and westbound traffic claim the pavement.
Note helmet, bottle of tea, and bagel smeared with peanut butter and honey.
From my picnic spot.
From my picnic spot.
From my picnic spot.
I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to meet a bear, but I kept my camera ready in case one insisted on posing for a formal portrait.
Siesta Lake.
When I pulled over, I found two bicyclists from UC Merced wielding cameras.
I took a picture of them, and one of them took a picture of me.
Snow.
Having heard of the tremendous snowfall and consequent difficulty clearing the road, I anticipated in some places riding between walls of snow twelve feet tall on each side of me. Not the case. Plenty of snow under the trees, but very little along the road itself. I encountered more snow when I biked the dirt road from Bodie to Bridgeport earlier this month.
It's amazing how such big trees can grow out of what seems to be bare granite.
More snow melt pouring down the mountain.
Rest stop.
I travelled faster than expected—5000 feet of descent didn't hurt!—and reached the western gate sooner than expected. The gate was also farther east than I realized, cutting about five miles off my ride. Eventually I met my ace support crew here so she could drive the Ogre and me back to Lee Vining when the gate opened at 3:00.
Better early than late. Had I missed the 3:00-4:00 timeframe for cars, we would have been forced to drive a roundabout route for about six hours in order to get back to base camp in Lee Vining.
Meanwhile, I snapped photos of westbound riders emerging from the no-car zone.
Another westbound rider.
Another rider.
While waiting for the gate to open at 3:00, I met locals Mara and Hugh as they were finishing their ride from the west, part way across Tioga Road, and back. Mara said that during the hour when traffic came through, they pulled off the road and took a nap. Hugh is a gifted photographer, and my puny efforts pale in comparison.
See Hugh's spectacular photography site, the Yosemite Collection.
Summary
Date: 30 June 2019
Time: 8:00 - 1:30
Weather: 40-65° F, mostly sunny
Route: Tioga Road, from east gate to west gate
Distance: 43 miles with 2100 feet of climbing and 5100 feet of descent
Bike: Ogre
Riders: Solo
Comments? Questions? Suggestions? I'd like to hear from you.
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